


my first crush was my brother's best friend

by bythunder



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Crush, F/M, Fluff, not quite a high school au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 09:27:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22847908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bythunder/pseuds/bythunder
Summary: When you're thirteen, everything feels like life or death. Especially when your heart is on the line.
Relationships: Robert Baratheon/Lyanna Stark
Comments: 15
Kudos: 32





	my first crush was my brother's best friend

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ayuminb](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ayuminb/gifts).



> bae requested fluff, bae shall receive

Lyanna had known Robert basically as long as she can remember. He and Ned started hanging out when Ned was eight which would make her four… He was always around, almost like another brother. He’s been a fixture in their home her whole life.

So it makes no sense at all why she’s suddenly shy around him. He smiles at her and she has to go hide in her room, her red face buried beneath a pillow for the rest of the night. She can hardly look at him without her heart racing, yet she can’t stop herself from staring either, because  _ he’s so handsome _ . Of all the boys she’s ever known, he’s easily the most handsome, even more than some movie stars! It’s unreal. 

And even when he’s not around, Lyanna finds herself thinking about him more than she ever thought about him before. It’s compulsive, almost nonstop. She thinks she got on Ned’s nerves just last night, asking when Robert would be over again. Oh,  _ gods _ , Ned would be so mad if he found her dairy, all her stupid fantasies, the dumb hope that  _ maybe _ he would want to go to her stupid eighth grade dance with her, and the way she wrote  _ Lyanna Baratheon _ in cursive a hundred times before scratching it all out. 

_ Is this what it’s like to be in love? Or am I just going crazy? _

He is just so… _ perfect _ . Lyanna tried, she really did, to stamp down her feelings, but every time she looked at the boys in her grade, with their pimply skin and unwashed hair,  _ body odor _ , she couldn’t stop herself from comparing them all to Robert. Tall and  _ clean _ and clear-skinned, with a bright, white smile. It’s more than just that though, she’s not that  _ shallow _ , she doesn’t only like him because he’s built like a god or something. He’s nice too, nicer than any of Brandon’s friends. Brandon’s friends always complain when she wants to tag along, but Robert always invites her to play video games with him and Ned, he tries to talk to her about her friends, her school, her sports, even though she’s such a stammering mess she can’t answer him. He’s patient with her, and she even overhead him call her cute once.

That completely did her in.  _ He called me cute _ . He called me cute, he called me cute, he called me cute. That must mean he likes her too, right? Maybe she’s not crazy after all. Maybe this could be the start of their story. Mom and Dad were childhood sweethearts after all, it’s not so insane to think that maybe— Lyanna feels like she’s on fire around him now, any second she might burst, just tell him she loves him. But no. No, not like this, it’s got to be  _ special _ because this is the story they’re going to tell for the rest of their lives. 

In the movies, there’d be candles and a fancy restaurant with a table cloth and wine. But Lyanna can’t do any of that, can’t go to a restaurant without her parents or Ned or Brandon to drive her, and she can’t ask for their help. She looks all over the house, but the only candles she can find are half-melted nameday candles and some stinky ones in Mom’s bathroom. Wine was easy, Mom and Dad always had a bottle in the cabinet above the fridge, but when she popped the cork and took a sip, she almost gagged. How did adults drink this stuff? She hoped Robert would be okay with Coke instead. It wasn’t nearly as fancy, but she could still pour it in a wine glass, and at least it’s drinkable. 

It wasn’t as pretty as the movies, Lyanna’s romantic set up in the backyard of their house. She spread an old picnic blanket over the plastic table on the deck to dress it up and found some fairy lights to hang up across the laundry lines. She even made dinner. Nothing fancy, but she could make a really mean mac and cheese and garlic bread to go with it. It wasn’t too bad, he’d be impressed. He  _ has _ to be. 

“Mm, smells good in here, kiddo. Whatcha cookin’?”

“Robert!” Lyanna jumps in surprise and nearly burns herself on the stove. He wasn’t supposed to be here yet!! Her heart starts thundering her in chest and her breath comes in heavy pants, because this is it, today’s the day, she’s going to say it,  _ I’m in love with you _ . But her throat is practically closed up at this point and she can hardly speak at all. “M-macoroni.”

“Hell yeah, my favorite.” He crosses the kitchen to get a better smell of her dish, and he’s standing right next to her, and she can see it all so clearly in her head, how she wants this night to go, what could happen right here. 

_ “I made it for you.” _

_ “Why did you do that?” _

_ “Because I wanted to do something special for the man I love.” _

_ “You love me?” _

_ “Of course I do.” _

_ “Good, because I love you too, Lya.” His head tilts down towards her and she stands up on her tiptoes to reach him. Her arms wrap around his neck as they kiss, her first kiss, soft and sweet and perfect, and his hands are at her waist, respectable but steadfast, secure enough to support her as her foot pops up like it always does for girls in movies, and…. _

“Lyanna?”

She crashes back to reality hard. “W-what?”

Robert laughs his gorgeous laugh and taps the side of her head. “Space cadet today, huh?”

She knit her brow in frustration, unsure whether to laugh or cry, because this isn’t right, this isn’t how it was supposed to go, her confession of love. Suddenly it all feels so  _ stupid _ , her plan. What was she thinking, why did she think she could make this romantic?  _ He’s going to laugh at me. _

“Woah, woah, Lyanna—” Robert’s hands fall on her shoulders, he tilts her chin up, forcing her to meet his eye. “Did I say something wrong?”

She hadn’t even noticed the tear slip down her cheek, and she hurries to rub it away, a pointless exercise, as Robert’s already seen it, but still, she has  _ some _ pride left. For a moment more anyway. “I- I made it for you.”

“The mac and cheese?”

Lya nods.

“That’s so sweet, thank you. What did I do to get such special treatment?”

“You—” Lyanna’s tongue feels thick, her mouth dry, it’s hard to speak, but this- this was her intention, she can’t,  _ won’t _ , mess it up any more than she did now. “Because- I  _ like _ you. Like, not just— I  _ like _ -like you.” She bites her lip hard, regret crashing over her like a tidal wave, because  _ could you sound any more like a child? Like-like? Really? _ And waiting for him to reply, it feels like  _ hours _ , hours and hours, they stand in the kitchen, and oh gods, she’s made a total fool of herself, could the ground open up right now and swallow her whole?

“Lyanna…” He starts slowly, and it’s bad, he doesn’t like her after all, he doesn’t have to keep talking, she already knows what he’s going to say, and she can’t fight her tears now, her lower lip trembles, she’s not ready to face rejection like this, a broken heart. “Hey, no, none of that. Shit… I mean, crap! Crap, Lya, don’t cry!”

“I’m not crying!!” It’s the worst lie she’s ever told in her life.

Robert looks about, hesitating a moment, before lifting her up, sitting her on the counter, evening out their eye level. “Listen, Lyanna. You know I think you’re the coolest girl I know. Really. And I’m- _so_ _flattered_ that you have a crush on me.”

“It’s not a crush!” Lyanna shouts. “It’s not, it’s more than that, Robert, I love—”

“I’m flattered,” he says again, forceful enough to shut her up. “But Lyanna, you’re thirteen.”

“Almost fourteen!”

Robert huffs, curses under his breath, and continues with a nod. “Right. Almost fourteen. I’m too old for you.”

“Five years isn’t that much!”

She doesn’t see the way he rolls his eyes, the frustration on his face. “Not when you’re old. But when you’re fourteen, and I’m nineteen, it’s a big difference.”

“ _ Why?” _

“Because— Because I’m finished with high school, and you haven’t even started it yet. That’s a big life experience you’ve yet to have. I don’t want you to miss out on anything, and I- I can’t go back to high school. Besides, I bet you’ll find a nice high school boy as soon as you start in the fall, and you’ll forget all about me.”

“I will not! Boys my age are stupid and mean. You’re so much better—”

“I’m really not.”

“Yes, you are! You’ve never ever called me horse-faced, or said I look like a boy. And—”

“Anyone who says that about you is a liar. I mean, sure, you got the Stark face, but that- It looks good on you, and- And any guy who’s worth anything won’t care what you look like, even if you  _ did _ look like a horse.”

“So I’m going to die alone then…” she whimpers.

Robert runs a hand through his hair, agitated. “Okay— what about this? When you graduate high school, and I’m done with university—  _ If _ you still like me, we can talk about it then, okay? If your feelings don’t change.”

She shakes her head enthusiastically, her heart feeling immeasurably lighter. “They won’t change, I promise, they won’t!” Lyanna throws her arms around Robert’s neck, hugging him tightly, overjoyed when he hugs her back. “I love you. I can wait.”

“Sure you can, kiddo.”

* * *

Robert had almost entirely forgotten Lyanna’s childhood crush on him. It wasn’t all that long after that he went away to school in the Vale, and he didn’t see much of the Starks for the next four years, save Ned who joined him down at the Gates of the Moon University after he graduated. If he thought of Lyanna at all, it was only when Ned brought her up, and if he recalled that she’d ever liked him, he was sure it had passed because Ned said she went to her school dances with some boy named Howland. A nice boy her own age.  _ Good for her _ . 

He didn’t think anything of it at all when Ned said he ought to come up for Lyanna’s graduation. They’d both just wrapped up their finals, and Mom and Dad were on vacation in Essos. A trip up North to see the Starks sounded way better than sharing the house with Stannis without their parents as a buffer. 

Ned had said he didn’t need to come to the graduation ceremony, it was long and boring, and you been to one, you’ve been to them all. But Robert had insisted, he’d come all this way, he was going to hoop and holler in the stands like a real member of the family, embarrassing her as she crosses the stage to collect her diploma. It’s only a shame that Stark comes so late in the alphabet, because by the time her name is called, his ass is pretty numb from the uncomfortable aluminum bleachers. But there aren’t that many after her, and once the last Wull crosses the stage, the parents and families of the new graduates descend upon the football field to begin the real celebrations. 

They find Lya jumping up and down, celebratory, laughing with a crowd of friends, tossing her cap high into the sky. And that’s when Robert realizes exactly how long it’s been since he’s last seen her. When he left, she was still a gangly little kid, with messy hair and a constellation of zits on her cheek. But now— She had grown up  _ well _ . Every boy who’d ever called her horse-faced was sure to be eating his words now, because she was absolutely stunning. She’s finally worked those birdnests out of her hair, and now it falls shimmering like silk down her back Her skin cleared up, not a blemish to be found, not even underneath the makeup she wore for the occassion. Dark winged eyeliner, a pass of mascara, bringing attention to her already lovely eyes, but that seems rather pointless, because the berry shade of her lipstick draws all focus to her lips...  _ Oh, gods _ . 

After accepting the congratulations from her family members, hugging each in turn and then all together, she sees him. Her grey eyes widen in surprise, he smiles and holds out the flowers he’d bought for her, about to repeat the same adulations she’s already heard a hundred times by now, but before he can speak, she’s moving towards him, so fast, he barely sees it coming, can barely react to catch her in time as she throws herself into his arms, her lips crashing against his.  _ What the hells?  _ He thinks, followed immediately by,  _ what the hells. _ He wraps his arms tighter around her waist, securing her fast against him, allowing him to deepen this unexpected embrace. She pulls away what feels like all together too short a time, and grins at him, beaming, bright,  _ beautiful. _

“I told you my feelings wouldn’t change.”

_ No, but mine sure did. _


End file.
